Prayers

Praying in front of cash-container.

So many people I know insist that Japanese aren't religious. Yet photos like this seem to belie that notion.

like once or twice in a year maybe? I can't get used to praying in shrines here, sometimes I just go along with the crowds or friends and family, for a change of scenery.

In India many people pray to Lakshmi the Goddess of Wealth. A single function God/Goddess. In Japan there is this similar concept. Externally it is a custom inherited from your elders. You learn how to bow your head and how to clap your hands to play the part. Internally you mutter a wish for the health of your family, or for success in a, b, or c, depending on the shrine you have chosen. Some businessmen might throw in 10,000 yen. A bit like the lottery, I wonder? My wife reckons 5 yen is good. 1 yen is not appropriate, but 500 yen too much. 10 yen, 50 yen or 100 yen if she can't find a 5 yen coin in her purse. Internally she feels something large and indefinable in front of her and she addresses that, and she guesses it stretches to god/God but she doesn't think anything else about it, and says she has never really questioned it.

I think Japanese are generally not daily religious people but they become religious sometimes because they want to make wishes come true. Shrine seems to be only place where some god listen to you.

such a trusting honest society, that's why the donation boxes have huge wooden slats to stop people stealing from god

Cheapskates, the only way to get god to really listen is to get one of those priests with the funny hat to take your extremely generous donation directly and mediate for you.

at Yushima shrine, incredibly popular with students wishing to pass tests, they have a 3 tier menu from which you can choose to donate 3,000 5,000 or 8,000 yen. I asked the priest how they were different his reply was "that's your mind" I think his zen like answer really meant, how stupid do you feel?

I have a question: are they really paying money to the temple or is for the monks to attend to the well-being of their deceased forebearers and family members in the afterlife? Only monks are able to do this; mere mortals cannot, though they will feel the wrath of unhappy ancestral spirits.

Money is important in Japanese and many other Asian societies. A gift of money is a big gesture when you give it to someone. Unlike the West where a gift of money is considered lazy or even downright insulting. A small, symbolic gift of money to the gods or shrine has a different significance to your westernised view. Don't try and see it as a materialisation of religion. Anyway, I think you can spare 15 yen to help your New Years wish come true.

Money is important in Japanese and many other Asian societies.

This is true. I don't know about Japan, but in many Buddhist countries it's common to find peddlers selling paper "fake" money (along with incense) around temples which people buy to burn for their deceased family members in the afterlife.

****Smartacus

So many people I know insist that Japanese aren't religious. Yet photos like this seem to belie that notion

With an economy in the tubes, one could always use a prayer

Unlike the West where a gift of money is considered lazy or even downright insulting. A small, symbolic gift of money to the gods or shrine has a different significance to your westernised view.

Then what about Mark 12:41-44? I personally am doubtful about the effect of throwing money there for your wishes though, not necessarily because they all seem to put in out of their surplus.

So many one yen chuckers at Narita-san these days. Now back before the bubble burst..

Pay to pray?

Pay to pray?

More like paying homage to whichever god/goddess happens to be worshipped there, not unlike sacrificing a goat or what have.

*or what have you.